Use 2 tablespoons of butter to grease the bottoms and sides of a 9-inch cast iron skillet, cake pan or pie plate. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of brown sugar over the bottom of the pan.

In a medium-sized bowl, combine the cream cheese and the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter and cream them together until they're smooth. Stir in the remaining brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt until they're well blended. Fold in the walnuts and set aside.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the pizza dough until it is a 14-inch square. If the dough springs back while being stretched and is hard to work with, allow it to rest for a few minutes covered with a towel.

Spread the nut mixture over half of the dough, fold the other half of the dough over the nut mixture, and lightly press the edges together.

Cut the dough into 5 strips lengthwise, and tightly twist each strip. Starting in the center of the prepared baking dish, coil the strips in a spiral, pressing each end into the next. Cover with a towel and place in a warm place for 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350℉ / 170℃. Bake the roll for 30-35 minutes or until it's golden brown and cooked all the way through. While it's baking, prepare the caramel glaze.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring the brown sugar, butter, and cream to a boil. Stir constantly until the brown sugar has dissolved. Remove it from heat and add the vanilla and salt.

Once the roll has come out of the oven, transfer it to a serving plate and drizzle it with the warm glaze.

Chef Tips

To keep your knife from sticking to the dough when you're cutting it into strips, put some flour on a plate or tray and "cut" the flour to lightly coat the blade with flour.

This twisted sticky caramel roll makes waiting for the weekend worth it. Think of this pull-apart breakfast treat as the ultimate sticky bun because you get a little bit of all of the best parts in every bite: the browned edges; the creamy, nutty center; and the soft, fluffy dough saturated with sticky caramel glaze.

Using pre-made pizza dough is a time-saver, but even if you want to make the dough from scratch you can make it the night before. And if pizza dough for breakfast seems weird, don’t worry — we didn’t want the dough to be too sweet because we’re already stuffing the twists with a brown sugar filling and soaking them in a caramel glaze. We used chopped walnuts for the filling, but you could trade those for the classic pecans or leave out the nuts entirely if you’re not nuts about nuts.

TipHero

You know from our Braided Apple Walnut Strudel, Nutella Star, and Blueberry Breakfast Braid that we love to get a little fancy with our dough. But you also know that we love a good kitchen hack more than anything, and this is one of those recipes where the finished product looks way more complicated than it really is. So watch our step-by-step video and try it for yourself and you’ll see that making a twisted sticky caramel roll ain’t no thang (but your brunch guests will certainly think it is).